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IFAD's participation to the XIII Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

By Antonella Cordone, Technical Advisor/Coordinator on
Indigenous and Tribal Issues in the Policy and Technical Advisory Division of
IFAD – Reporting from the XIII Session of the UNPFII

The United Nations Permanent
Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) closed its yearly two-week session last
Friday, May 23. The agenda of the XIII Session of the UNPFII, included a number
of important and delicate issues, from indigenous peoples' rights to the World
Conference on Indigenous Peoples to be held in September 2014. As Technical
Advisor/Coordinator for Indigenous and Tribal Issues, I represented IFAD both
in official plenary sessions and side-events. Within the UNPFII and our
partners, we reaffirmed IFAD's leading role as one of the UN organizations that
has enhanced its focus on indigenous peoples' issues.

In the official statement to the Plenary Session of the
Forum, I concentrated on IFAD's strategy "to put indigenous peoples at the
forefront of decision making for projects affecting their lives, and at all
levels of IFAD's operations''. I also reminded that the IFAD's achievements are
''the results of genuine partnerships, based on mutual trust, with indigenous
peoples and their organizations''.

The statement was supported by a presentation delivered on IFAD's work in Asia,
during a half-a-day session on the region. I informed the audience that IFAD
currently invests about 1 billion dollars in 35 ongoing projects in support of
indigenous communities in Asia, where an estimated 70 percent of the world's
indigenous peoples live. I also informed about the 35 small projects financed through
the Indigenous
Peoples’ Assistance Facility (IPAF), considered as a model of
community-driven development and participatory engagement. Most importantly, I
stressed that these activities are carried out with the ''valuable partnership with
representatives of indigenous peoples' organizations who have worked with us
and the direct engagement of indigenous peoples' communities''.

A great opportunity to reaffirm and strengthen IFAD's partnership
with indigenous peoples has been the appointment of Ms Victoria-Tauli Corpuz -
Executive Director of Tebtebba Foundation – as Special Rapporteur on the Right
of Indigenous Peoples. A Filipina activist and expert , Vicky came to IFAD for
the first time 11 years ago, to attend a side event of the IFAD Governing
Council on indigenous peoples' rights.

Since then she has been working closely
with IFAD and UN organizations to bring indigenous issues and priorities into
the mainstream of our work. Vicky importantly reminded that ''indigenous
peoples need to step out of the paradigm of victimhood because we can provide
sustainable solutions to the world's crises''.

Equal participation
and partnership between indigenous peoples, UN organizations, and governments was
a much discussed theme during the Forum, in particular with reference to the
first World Conference on Indigenous Peoples scheduled to take place in
September this year. As confirmed in our statement on the World Conference,
delivered in the second week of the Permanent Forum, IFAD has been supporting
indigenous peoples in the preparation of the World Conference, approving a
grant of about USD 1 million in partnership with the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs
(IWGIA) and the Global Coordinating Group
(GCG) to cover travel and accommodation of indigenous peoples' representatives
to preparatory meetings, as well as follow-up and policy engagement at country
level.

In line with several Governments and UN Agencies we called for the full
and effective participation of indigenous peoples in the preparation and
participation to the World Conference. Final decision of the President of the
UN General Assembly on the modalities of the World Conference are yet to be
released, however we trust that indigenous peoples will fully, effectively and equally participate in the World
Conference processes.

Alongside the formal discussions in the Plenary Sessions
many side events and group meetings were organized during this XIII Session of
the Permanent Forum. We were directly involved in the organization of three of
them. One, led by the International Land Coalition (ILC) in cooperation with
Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP), Ogiek Peoples Development Programme (OPDP),
SONIA Association, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and El Centro para
la Autonomía y Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas (CADPI). The side event
focused on Reviewing multi-source data and approaches for monitoring pressures
over indigenous lands, territories and resources.

The second, organized in partnership with United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature (IUNC), focused on pastoralism as a sustainable food
system and practice preserving biodiversity and protecting ecosystems -
countering the prejudice of pastoralism as being primitive and unproductive.

The third, co-organized with the Asia Indigenous Peoples' Pact (AIPP) and
Procasur concentrated on Procasur Learning
Route in the Mekong region, and in particular on forest management and
engagement with government and civil society. I chaired the event, welcoming
among the participant Joan Carling, recently elected Member of the Permanent
Forum and winner of the ''FIMI 2014 Leadership Award''.

Highly significant – as well as successful - was also the
launch of IWGIA Yearbook "The
Indigenous World'', a comprehensive update on the current situation of
indigenous peoples in more than 70 articles written by indigenous and
non-indigenous scholars and activists. The Yearbook also concentrates on the
path towards the World Conference and the Post 2015 Development Agenda. IWGIA
and its work were praised by the newly elected Special Rapporteur for the ''enduring
support to the indigenous movement without ever speaking on their behalf''.

The XIII Session of the UNPFII has, thus, not only been an
important platform for discussion between UN organizations, governments and
indigenous representatives, but also a crucial site to strengthen partnership
with and identify the priorities of indigenous peoples in view of the World
Conference on Indigenous Peoples and of the IFAD's Indigenous Peoples’ Forum,
whose second global meeting will take place in February 2015 in conjunction
with IFAD Governing Council.

I wish to thank Zac Bleicher and Sophie Ritchie from IFAD North-America Liaison Office for their great support. A special thanks to Michela Mossetto Carini,
our intern in the Policy and Technical Advisory Division who self-sponsored her
travel to the UNPFII Session and actively supported me.